Dutch king should apologize to Moluccan people, says former PM Van Agt

The Royal House should apologize for the injustice done to the Moluccan community, former Prime Minister Dries van Agt said. He said he believes the Moluccans should be thanked for their loyalty to the Netherlands which is not just a matter of the prime minister.

“Here lies a task for our king,” 90-year-old Van Agt said in an interview in the newspaper. He pointed out that Indonesia has already apologized for the Dutch violence during the Indonesian National Revolution. “What concerns me is how terrible it must be for the Moluccans that they have never received any sympathy from the Royal House. Never at all!” the former prime minister said.

Van Agt said it was unprecedented how the Moluccans who fought in the Royal Dutch East Indies were put on ships in 1951 and fired from the army on the spot. Thousands of Molukken soldiers who fought for the Dutch were in danger of persecution by Moluccan independence fights after the Netherlands lost their colonies. As a “temporary solution” they were brought to the Netherlands but then fired from their military service.

“It could not have been more brutal and brusque. They lost their honor and dignity overnight,” he said. In the Netherlands, they were housed in former concentration camps, among other places, because their stay would only be temporary.

In 1977, as Minister of Justice in the Den Uyl Cabinet, Van Agt ordered an end to the train hijacking at De Punt with a heavy hand. Moluccans wanted to force the Netherlands to promise the Moluccans an independent state. The hostage was ended after three weeks with the help of the Dutch military. Six train hijackers and two passengers were killed.

“I have always found it a horrific decision, a great burden to live with,” Van Agt said. The former prime minister said he better understands the background of the hijacking now, but he still believes the frustration should not be expressed in this way.

He acknowledged that if he or his predecessors had handled the interests of the Moluccans better, the hijacking may never have happened.